. >> that means mary cheh is taking over as chair for now. we'll talk to her live in studio in a moment, but first fox 5's bob barnard has read the resignation letter and has brown's final words as a councilman. >> in the letter addressed to the d.c. council secretary kwame brown writes and i quote, "i hereby resign my position as chairman of the council effective immediately. i have made some very serious mistakes in judgment for which i will take if you responsibility. i have chosen the only honorable course in submitting my resignation at this time." >> would you all please just clear a path. this is a public hall. >> he's a man under fire, d.c. council chairman kwame brown here leaving his wilson building office late today chaned with a felony, one count -- charged with a felony, one count of bank fraud the charging document called the criminal information essentially means brown is planning to plead guilty. >> i'll have a comment tomorrow. thank you. no comment as of now. i appreciate you were waiting in the hallway all this time. >> pro

. >> we'll hear from mary cheh.g over temporarily as head of the council. >> warning for g-mail users. learn who google says might be watching your in box. >> monika is watching your commute. how is it looking? >> not looking too bad. on the inbound side of i-66. slow traffic out of manassas. an accident in prince william county and miniville road. another look at the big picture coming up. you're watching 9news now. >>> 6:29. we're back. if you're just waking up, thanks for joining us, the place you can always get your weather first. the runners are out there along wisconsin avenue. sun shining. 58 degrees. >>> thank you for starting your thursday with us. i'm andrea roane. >>> i'm mike hydeck. howard bernstein enjoying the beautiful weather on the weather terrace. it's a beautiful morning out here. we have dry air, temps in the 50s and lots and lots of sunshine. here's a look at it outside. we start with our tysons shot. a beautiful morning out there in northwestern -- northern virginia i should say. 76 by noon. a

. >> council member mary cheh is now acting chair. it is a sad day for mr. brown and for the council and for the people in the district of. >> next, mary cheh is the acting chair of the d.c. council for now, but not for long. she plans to call a meeting on wednesday to elect a new interim chairman of the d.c. council. that person will likely serve until november. that is when voters should get their chance to elect a new chairman the. as for kwame brown, he has a court date set for tomorrow. in northwest, tom roussey reporting. >> kwame brown's resignation is the latest in a series of problems in d.c. government. earlier this year former councilman harry thomas jr. was sentenced to prison prison for embezzling city funds intended for a youth soccer program. two campaign aides to d.c. mayor vincent gray pleaded guilty to charges tied to the 2010 mayoral campaign. >> despite the turmoil surrounding brown's resignation it will be business as usual today at the wilson building. the panel will look at what the d.c. fire and ems department is doing to reduce overt

they were out of work after brown resigned but mary cheh, the council's acting chair made that offer to them yesterday. it is not clear how many people are taking her up on that offer. >>> again we'll have more details coming up tonight. >>> a culpeper police officer charged with murder was in court today, a special grand jury indicted daniel harmon- wright last month. in february harmon-wright shot and killed 54-year-old patricia cook while she was in her jeep. the officer claims cook drove off with his arm in her window. investigators say that they have evidence contradicting that story. we'll have more on that story coming up on this evening's newscast. >>> a bicyclist is recovering after being hit by a montgomery county police cruiser. sky 9 was over the scene of the accident this morning on the ramp from briggs cheney road to columbia pike in silver spring. police tell 9news now that the 16-year-old female illegally crossed in front of the cruiser. she was taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. >>> a published report says a montgomery county police used felons to collec

council member mary cheh will open a meeting wednesday for the council to vote on the replacement. vincent orange, phil mendelson, both democrat at large members are expected to compete for the job to replace kwame brown. >> can you remember a time where this council has had this many distractions? >> there's never been a time in the city's history we've had this many distractions and it's not over. there's still that major investigation hanging over the city like a wet blanket of the mayor, his administration and their campaign. all these start out as investigations of campaigns and end up in all other areas. so we'll see. >> mary cheh serves as interim chairman and then a special election to fill it permanently. >> i think she's chairman pro tem and will just open up meeting for this vote and then the interim chairman will be selected. >>> we spoke with some of the kwame brown's colleagues on the d.c. council about all this. here's council member jim graham followed by tommy wells. >> reporter: are you still chairman? >> i'm distraught. i'm very concerned about the future of this

council chair mary cheh joins us live now on the eve of tomorrow's vote. thanks for being here. >> sure. >> you have already proposed that phil mendelson become the acting chairman and michael brown his backup. people ask why approach pose this resolution before the vote tomorrow -- propose this resolution before the vote tomorrow? >> we did it in '97 and '93. i'm simply following the practice of the council in the past. why those names? after mr. brown resigned there were inevitably hallway conversations and people talking and it seemed to me a consensus had formed around phil mendelson. what people have to understand is that the charter, the home rule charter, says that we must pick the acting chair and the acting chair pro tem from among the four at large members. so there's a very limited pool here. >> speaking of at large members as we saw in matt's story there, councilman vincent orange released a press release today saying he opposes this resolution saying it's not only bad for the council but for the city, the people that you guys represent in the

mother mary cheh is not in the running.t is because under the city charter, the acting chair must be chosen from one of the four at-large members. again, that vote is scheduled to take place during a special meeting at 10:00 this morning. and one. those at-large council members, david catania, has made clear that he has no intention of seeking the job. that is the late here at the wilson building. back to you. >> thank you. >>> former senator george allen easily beat three rivals. >> it sets autopsy i clash in the november elects with another former virginia governor democrat tim kaine. the campaign is closely watched since it is said to be tied to the presidential race. we'll be speaking with tim kaine live in the next hour. >>> the results are in from another closely watched race. democrat ron barber defeated republican yes, sire kelly in arizona's special election to file former representative gabrielle giffords' seat. barb are is a former aide of giffords. democrats are fighting to regain control of the house in novembe

mary cheh will take over as the acting council chair. >>> the biggest obstacle is cheered in extending metro's silver line in virginia. the board overseeing the dulles rail project just agreed to remove union work requirements in the contract. that is something the state of virginia and loudoun county wanted for the silver line project to move for word. >>> big crowds at arundel mills for the grand opening of a new gambling site at the mall. this is the view from sky fox. it was so crowded some people had to be turned away. wisdom marten was there for the grand opening. >> reporter: las vegas casino style come to maryland. >> it is just rock and roll constant hi from here on out. >> reporter: maryland live casino at arundel mills mall is officially open for business. >> i got a baby-sitter, brought my sister, my friend. i'm very excited. >> reporter: there are 4750 las vegas style slot machines and table games including black jack and roulette. this woman started winning as soon as she sat down. so did her friend. but it is the state of maryland that hopes to win big with this new attr

councilmember mary cheh will take over as the acting council chair.wame brown's charge and resignation are the talk of the town as you can imagine. here what is some people we talked with are saying about it. >> it is getting a little old. >> my first reaction was lack of surprise and my second reaction is i'm glad at least for he was doing something wrong, at least he has been caught an is stepping off the council. >> meantime, d.c. mayor vince gray remains under investigation after allegations of campaign violations and at least one councilmember says enough is enough. david cat apia wants gray to come pauline -- catania wants gray to come clean. >> the time has come for the mayor to address those,s. >> we could not reach mayor gray for a comment last night. he has not recently addressed the investigation. his spokesperson says he has said all he can say and is focused on his job. >>> stay with fox 5 for continuing coverage of kwame brown and the d.c. council changes. we'll have updates both on air and online at myfoxdc.com. >>> big crowds at arunde

mary cheh will hold a special council meeting. they need to choose one of the four at-large members who will run the council until a special election to replace brown can be held. yesterday, the now disgraced council chairman was swarmed by reporters and photographers as he left his office in the wilson building. he spent the day in closed-door meeting with council and staff. prosecutors say he lied about his income and falsified documents in order to take home equity longs and a boat loan out. that is considered bank fraud, a money. rumors of a deal with federal prosecutors had dogged brown for days and publicly said tuesday he had no plans at the time to resign but just hours after he left city hall wednesday, brown relinquished. he sent a letter to the city council secretary writing in part, i have made serious mistake in judgment for which i will take full responsibility. >> as the chair pro tem, i have a modest role and i'm already putting it into play. namely, i will call a special meeting of the council for next wednesday,

i know right now mary cheh is acting, but after that who are the leading contenders to replace kwame brown? >> i spoke to player cheh late this afternoon and she told me wednesday -- mary cheh late this afternoon and she told me on wednesday when they have the meeting that she will offer a motion that phil mendelson will be the chair and that michael brown who is an independent -- the other democrat is vincent orange -- would be the chairman pro tem. they would hope there wouldn't be any other motions offered and the politics of this is that vincent orange does not like that, would like to contest, but he can count like everybody else and if he doesn't have any votes, he'll have to go along with that. then afterwards there has to be a special election, 114 days after the appointment of the council and phil mendelson who has been in for 14 years said he would run for chair and we'll see whether anybody would oppose him at that time. >> let me ask you a little bit about this. we spoke briefly about d.c. mayor vincent gray who you mentioned is still under investigation by the feds. you

coming up at 5:30, mary cheh addresses d.c. residents and how she should feel now about their local government. back to you. >> delia goncalves with that update from outside the wilson building in downtown d.c. >>> other news now, the court records show the woman who died in a crash late tuesday had reckless driving and driving with a suspended license conviction. the 27-year-old died at the scene in fairfax. her 8-year-old daughter victoria later died at the hospital. so sad. her 6-year-old daughter and the driver of the minivan she hit are still suffering with serious injuries. police say speed was definitely a factor in this wreck. >>> a potential obstacle to building phase two of metro's silver line to dulles airport is out of the way. the airports authority voted to get rid of the controversial project labor agreement. that agree includes incentives toward work performed by labor unions. virginia's governor and leaders in loudoun county had opposed such union incentives. >>> well, if opening night is any indication that ma

council mary cheh which is the interim chair explained on fox 5 news at 10:00 last night. >> he's obviously vying for the spot so he would take a position in opposition to what's being proposed. he'll have to make plain what his argument is. i think choosing mr. mendelson now as chair is actually precisely the right thing to do. >> what i believe will happen is chair pro tem mary cheh will propose a resolution and there will be time for discussion. oftentimes when there's a situation like this, the council does not get into the discussion and then there will be a vote. >> reporter: it is unclear whether mendelson has the support of council member marion barry who has tweeted in part, do you know what they are planning to do? do they hear you or the lobby? and part of the plans that we understand are for council member michael brown to take the pro tem chair's position. it appears vincent orange's only chance at the chairmanship now would be at that special election come november. right now everything looks like phil mendelson will get the job today. that's the latest here at the wilson buil

>> mary cheh is acting chair until next wednesday and she will call for a vote by the full council to decide who will replace chairman brown until an election can be called. >> and the criminal charges has d.c. mayor vincent gray speaking out insisting he was unaware of wrongdoing. the charges against brown is the latest chapter of the scandal that began with sulaimon brown accusing the mayor's campaign giving him money to bash adrian fenty at campaign debate. since then two campaign aides have pleaded guilty to campaign violations. today the mayor said he didn't know much about brown's latest charge. >> i think this was an investigation. we knew it was going on. i'm sure they doing it in the way they normally conduct investigations in whatever their methodical manner is. >> reporter: are you nervous about what could happen next? >> i'm going on doing my job every day. >> mayor gray added he thinks he's doing a good job leading the district saying homicides are down, unemployment is down and that he had a $240 million surplus the end of his first year in office. >>> tough questions to

chairman pro tem mary cheh is offering to keep the 20 or so staffers on board at least for now. >> let's talk about the fact that there's no votes locked up so far for these new council chairmen who want to be can chairman. these people know each other -- to be council chairman. these people know each other very well. >> here's one deal we know about. michael brown and phil mendelsohn have teamed up. if phil mendelsohn becomes the interim chairman, michael brown becomes chairman pro tem and you can bet vincent orange is making deals, too, on the side. right now there's mistrust because nobody knows where the next shoe will drop. >> in other words, somebody else could be indicted and forced out, you go through this all over again. >> indicted is a big word. something could happen. >> thanks, bruce. >>> the dulles rail project has one more big hurdle before it gets itself back on track. the board of supervisors will vote next month on whether to opt in or out of project. as peggy fox reports, it's expected to be a close vote because some of the supervisors have steep reservations. >> repor

. >> the new acting chair mary cheh will call a special meeting of the full council a week from today when one of the four at large members will be named to lead the council until a special election is held to replace kwame brown. >> here we go again. kwame brown's charge and resignation the talk of the town. some wonder what this means for the step as it fights for voting rights. fox 5's audrey barnes went out to get a pulse of the people. >> i'm shocked but not surprised. the way our poll politics are going now and especially -- politics are going now and especially d.c. politics it's going down one by one. i wonder who's next? >> reporter: that was the sentence we heard over and over again after the news broke d.c. councilman kwame brown was charged with one count of bank fraud. gabrielle opool has lived in d.c. 20 years and just got her u.s. citizenship in 2008. she says brown's charges go against everything she's learned about being a good citizen. >> you can't trust anybody. it's coming from the top. that's what shocked me the most. >> reporter: the allegations against brown don

interim council chair mary cheh has offered them their jobs back at least for now. >>> 9 wants you to know about a major development in a 9news investigation we've worked on now more than six months. richard kim, owner of town square market now facing two years probation for selling alcohol to minor, part of the sentence handed down by a superior court judge today. received a 30 day suspended jail sentence, a $550 fine and 20 hours of community service. kim was arrested in february after police caught him selling beer and vodka to a 17-year-old high school student. after today's hearing kim said he wants to get rid of that store. >> reporter: i regret i even opened the store. i don't want the business anymore. i want to go back to construction. >> kim wants to sell the store as soon as he, can but his legal troubles aren't done yet. on july 25th d.c.'s alcohol control board will decide whether the town square market owner loses his liquor license. >>> the falls church man convicted of a sex offense after police tracked him with a gps is asking the virginia supreme court to throw out t

. >>> acting chairman mary cheh circulated a resolution to members. phil mendelson has the support necessary to take over the position vacationed by kwame brown. the 11en member council -- 11- member council will vote on the resolution today. a special election will be held in november to appoint a permanent replacement. >>> dispensaries could be selling medical marijuana in d.c. within a matter of weeks. yesterday the district health department approved four applications for medical marijuana pharmacies. one of them is right near the tacoma metro station in northwest. >> it's going to be a very controlled and very well organized distribution that there is very little room or no room for -- [ inaudible ] >> three other approved sites for medical marijuana pharmacies are located along north capital street, northwest at 20th and m streets and 8th street southeast on capitol hill. >>> maryland lawmakers are expecting to make big money from the five casinos in the state but after the maryland live casino opened at anne arundel mills and reached capacity w

. >> we understand mary cheh will be the acting chair at least until next week when she will call a meeting with council members and they will appoint an interim chair that will serve until november. brown is expected to be in federal court sometime tomorrow. reporting live in northwest brianne carter, abc 7 news. >> this is the latest in a series of resignations in the district. former councilman harry thomas jr. was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this year for embezzling city funds. two campaign aides to d.c. mayor vincent gray pleaded guilty to charges that tied them to the 2010 mayoral campaign. >> the fight over a proposed costco gas station in montgomery county may heat up again tonight. the planning board will discuss the issue this evening. supporters say stit would bring jobs and convenience. but some fear the gas station could contaminated ground water in nearby neighborhoods. >> it could be a boost for a planned to extend dulles rail. the airports authority has voted to reverse its policy. that will give preferential treatment to union contractors building the silver

currently, mary cheh is filling in but she is not in the running for the chair. >> we did this in '93. we did it in '97. i'm simply following the praft council in the past. -- the practice of the council in the past. why those names? after mr. brown resigned, there were inevitably hallway conversations and people talking. as a result, it seemed to me that a consensus had formed around phil mendelsohn. what people have to understand is that the charter, the home rule charter, says we must pick the acting chair and the acting chair pro tem from among the four at-large members. >> reporter: councilmember michael brown is expected to take the pro tem position. a special election will be held in november to permanently fill the chairmanship. councilmember marion barry has been tweeting about today's vote. one said let your councilmember hear your voice and asked do you even know what they plan to do? vincent orange had hoped to get the votes for the chair today. but it appears his only chance now will be in november. right now, it seems that this vote is phil mendelsohn's to lose. back to

councilmember mary cheh remains the interim chair until a vote can be held next wednesday by the full council and then an election would be held later. since resigning last -- late we had, that is, brown has not said anything else publicly. that is the latest here at federal court. back to you. >> thank you. >>> looking at more local headlines now, a 7-year-old girl is the third victim to die from a terrible car wreck this week in northern virginia. victoria williams passed with a yesterday at the hospital. her mother dijon williams and five-year-old sister faith were both killed tuesday night when their car hit another car here on lee highway in fairfax. the driver of the other car remains in critical condition. >>> one person is dead after a stabbing at a business park on old meadow road in mclean, virginia. police say it happened yesterday morning at the psychiatric rehabilitation services building, a group that provides day support services for adults with mental illness. 57-year-old grady vickers was killed. a 24-year-old man is now in custody. investigators say both men were cli

. >> one of the striking things this week was hearing your colleagues david catania and mary cheh basically saying this isn't the end of it. we need to get to the end of it before we can move forward and i suppose to both of you do you believe there is more to come? >> well, i think that there is more to come. we have campaign financier from the private sector jeffrey thompson and those tentacles go pretty deep to almost every single one of my colleagues that have taken money from him and sometimes money orders just signed by whomever. then there's also the questions around the mayor. we do need this resolved as quickly as possible to ensure the stability and integrity of our government. >> mr. howard, is there more to come? >> i would guess so. the hallmark of most investigations is you start at a certain level, take the low hanging fruit, the people you can get to plead. work with them, find out what they know and usually work your way up. so i would guess we're going to see more. >>> this tuesday is election day in virginia. republicans in the commonwealth will choose between four candid

ward 3 council member mary cheh will take over temporarily. at some point after that there will be an election among council members and they will choose among the at large members to finish out the chairman's term. vincent orange, phil mendelson, the democrats at large are expected to vie for that position. >>> for now our other bruce leshan joins us live from the wilson building where kwame brown just came out and spoke behalf with reporters. what did he say? >> reporter: he came out after huddling behind closed door for most of the day with his staffers and he said he would have more to say tomorrow. he refused to say whether he is still chairman and to say if he has already submitted his resignation. now before he came out we heard shouting and we peered through a shaded glass door and saw his staff holding hands and chanting kwame. then he came out and waded into a crazy media scrum, his staff scream and yelling at photographers who were furiously back pedaling and trying to get out of the way. his colleagues on the council say they are d

as chair pro temp mary cheh will preside over a council meeting to select a temporary chairman now thatrown has resigned. under council rules only at-large members elected by the entire city and not just one ward can take over as interim chairman. experts predict it probably will not be david or michael because they have outside jobs and they would have to give them up if they became chairman. that leaves phil mendelson and vincen orange. whoever it does end up being, that person will not only run the d.c. council until the city holds a special election for kwame brown's seat, he is also next in line if something should happen to the current mayor. in other words, if the mayor ever has to leave office for any reason, whether it's health or legal issues, the new interim chairman could become the next mayor. we will find out who that person is next week. >> stay with news4 for continuing coverage of the d.c. corruption scandal tonight on news4 at 6:00. you can also go to our website nbcwashington.com and leave your comments about kwame brown's troubles. >>> a fight over money leads to a d

council now, mary cheh is acting chair until next wednesday. she will call for a vote by the if you council to decide who will re-- full council to decide who will replace chairman brown until an election can be called. >> let's bring in criminal defense attorney ted williams for more on the legal side of all. this mr. williams, does this growing suspicion at least in certain circles that the feds leading with this charge of bank fraud kind of tips their hand they didn't have a whole lot to begin with if this is the strongest charge they have? do you get that sense or no? >> that may very well not be the case. first of all, i think we need -- the citizens of the district of columbia owe a debt of gratitude to ron machen who is the united states attorney. he's very low key. he's very professional and they may very well have had other charges, but what happened here, they entered into what is known as an information meaning that former chairman brown would go in and plea. so it doesn't mean that they were weak in any of the case or in any of the

as chair pro temp mary cheh will be responsible to call and preside over a council meeting to select temporary chairman now that brown has resigned. under council rules, only at-large members elected by the entire city and not just one ward can take over as interim chairman. experts predict it probably will not be david katanya or michael because they have outside jobs and they would have to give them up if they became chairman. that leaves phil mendelson and vincent orange. whoever it does end up being, that person will not only run the d.c. council until the city holds a special election for kwame brown's seat, he is also next in line if something should happen to the current mayor. in other words, if the mayor ever has to leave office for any reason, whether it's health or legal issues, the new interim chairman could become the next mayor. we will find out who that person is next week. >>> the owner of the d.c. improv has been found dead three weeks after he was improved missing. mark anderson's body was discovered in a hotel room in buckeye, arizona, yesterday morning that is acc

. >> reporter: mary cheh is the -- is now acting as council chair until a meeting is -- until they callting and they will then replace kwame brown with an interim chair. that person will serve for the next 114 days. that will happen next week, possibly wednesday when the interim chair will finally take that seat until a special election will come for final replacement in november. coming up at 6:00, we'll have more reaction from the business community and how they think d.c. and businesses can move on. back to you, jessica, andrea. >> delia goncalves, thank you, outside district court. >>> tonight family and friends will hold a viewing for imagene stewart. she founded the house of the women's center and for decades helped women and families who might otherwise have been left to the streets. imagene stewart died last month from breast cancer. tonight's viewing is at the bacon funeral home on 14th street northwest. tomorrow's funeral is at columbia lodge number 815. >>> two members of a tree trimming crew are recovering after being hit by a truck. the workers were set up on new hampshire

and now that he has resigned, it's mary cheh's responsibility as pro tempore to preside over a specialting and select an interim chairman. under current rules, at-large members elected by the entire city and not just one ward can take over as interim chairman. experts predict it probably won't be david catania over there to the far right or michael brown over here. they have outside jobs and would have to give them up if they became chairman. that leaves phil mendelsohnn and vincent orange. there will be a special election for the seat. he sauls next in line if something should happen to the current mayor. in other words, if the mayor ever has to leave office for any reason, whether it's health or legal issues, the new interim chairman could become the next mayor. we'll find out who that person is next week. >> we'll have continuing coverage of the kwame brown case throughout the day. we'll be live if the former d.c. council chairman makes any public statement. you can also follow the latest developments on nbcwashington.com. we'll have a complete wrap-up today on "news4 today" at 4:00